---
title: "MiniMax-M2.5"
metatags:
  description: "Deploy MiniMax-M2.5 model with SGLang on Ascend NPUs, including single-node deployment mode."
---

## Introduction

MiniMax-M2.5 is a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) large language model developed by MiniMax, featuring a sparse MoE
architecture with approximately 230B total parameters and 10B active parameters. It supports native long-context
processing up to 200k tokens. The model supports EAGLE3 speculative decoding with a
custom eagle model for accelerated inference, and excels at general language understanding, reasoning, and
long-context tasks.

This document demonstrates the deployment of MiniMax-M2.5 on Ascend NPUs using SGLang, including single-node PD mixed
mode, feature configuration, and performance optimization.

This document is validated and written based on **SGLang v0.5.16**. The current model (MiniMax-M2.5) is fully supported in
this version. To use the latest features (e.g., speculative decoding), it is recommended to use
v0.5.16 or a later version.

## Supported features

| Feature                       | Example usage                                                                                 |
|-------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Tensor Parallelism            | `--tp-size 16`                                                                                |
| Data Parallelism              | `--dp-size 16`                                                                                |
| Expert Parallelism            | `--ep-size 16 \`<br/>`--moe-a2a-backend ascend_fuseep \`<br/>`--deepep-mode auto`              |
| Quantization                  | `--quantization modelslim`                                                                    |
| Chunked Prefill               | auto based on device memory, or set explicit value;<br/>disable with `--chunked-prefill-size -1`; e.g., `--chunked-prefill-size 8192` |
| NPU Graph                     | enabled by default; disable with `--disable-cuda-graph`;<br/>control range via `--cuda-graph-bs` or `--cuda-graph-max-bs-decode`; e.g., `--cuda-graph-bs 8 16 24 32 48 64 80` |
| Speculative Decoding          | `--speculative-algorithm EAGLE3 \`<br/>`--speculative-draft-model-path /path/to/draft-model-weights \`<br/>`--speculative-num-steps 3 \`<br/>`--speculative-eagle-topk 1 \`<br/>`--speculative-num-draft-tokens 4 \`<br/>`--speculative-draft-model-quantization unquant` |
| Overlap Schedule              | `export SGLANG_ENABLE_OVERLAP_PLAN_STREAM=1`                                                  |

<Note>
The values in the **Example usage** column are for illustration only. Adjust them according to your hardware, deployment
mode, and workload. For parameter details, see
[Feature descriptions](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/optimization/parameter_tuning#feature-descriptions); for
recommended configurations for each deployment scenario, see [Best practices](#best-practices).
</Note>

For feature compatibility and conflict information between features,
see [Feature Compatibility](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/optimization/parameter_tuning#feature-compatibility).

## Prerequisites

### Environment

Before following this tutorial, complete the environment setup in the documents below:

- [Ascend NPU Quickstart](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/getting-started/quick_start) — the fastest way to get started.
  It walks you through launching the official container image, starting the SGLang server, and sending a test request.
  Recommended if you are new to SGLang on Ascend.
- [SGLang Installation with NPU Support](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/getting-started/installation) — the full installation guide.
  It covers the component version mapping (CANN, TorchNPU, Triton, kernels, etc.), building from source or from a
  Dockerfile, and recommended system settings (CPU power scheme, NUMA, swap). Use it when you need to install or customize
  the environment instead of using the official image.

### Model weights

Before downloading model weights, check the model size to reserve enough disk space.

- [MiniMax-M2.5-w8a8-QuaRot](https://www.modelscope.cn/models/Eco-Tech/MiniMax-M2.5-w8a8-QuaRot) (W8A8 quantized version, 230.82GB)
- [MiniMax-M2.5-eagle-model](https://www.modelscope.cn/models/sgl-npu/MiniMax-M2.5-eagel-model-0318) (EAGLE3 draft model for speculative decoding)

<Info>
The W8A8 variant (230.82GB) can be deployed on 8 × 64GB of device memory (`--tp-size 8`), which corresponds to one full A2
node or 8 dies on A3 (4 cards).
</Info>

This is the minimum recommended configuration. For optimized configurations,
see [Best practices](#best-practices), which may require additional cards or nodes.

For the hardware specifications (memory per die, dies per card, and the difference between A2 and A3),
see [Ascend NPU Reference — Hardware](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/reference/glossary#hardware).

## Installation

<Warning>
Ensure sufficient disk space before pulling images. The Docker image requires at least **30GB** of free space.
</Warning>

The dependencies required for the NPU runtime environment have been integrated into a Docker image and uploaded to the
online platform. You can directly pull it.

Both **stable releases** and **daily builds** are available. The following command is based on the stable release tag.
For details, see [Docker image versions](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/faq#8-docker-image-versions-stable-release-vs-daily-build).

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Atlas 800I A3">

```bash Command
docker pull quay.io/ascend/sglang:cann9.0.0-a3-v0.5.16

docker run -itd --shm-size=16g --name ${NAME} \
--privileged=true --net=host \
-v /var/queue_schedule:/var/queue_schedule \
-v /etc/ascend_install.info:/etc/ascend_install.info \
-v /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/sbin \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/driver:/usr/local/Ascend/driver \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/firmware:/usr/local/Ascend/firmware \
--device=/dev/davinci0:/dev/davinci0  \
--device=/dev/davinci1:/dev/davinci1  \
--device=/dev/davinci2:/dev/davinci2  \
--device=/dev/davinci3:/dev/davinci3  \
--device=/dev/davinci4:/dev/davinci4  \
--device=/dev/davinci5:/dev/davinci5  \
--device=/dev/davinci6:/dev/davinci6  \
--device=/dev/davinci7:/dev/davinci7  \
--device=/dev/davinci8:/dev/davinci8  \
--device=/dev/davinci9:/dev/davinci9  \
--device=/dev/davinci10:/dev/davinci10  \
--device=/dev/davinci11:/dev/davinci11  \
--device=/dev/davinci12:/dev/davinci12  \
--device=/dev/davinci13:/dev/davinci13  \
--device=/dev/davinci14:/dev/davinci14  \
--device=/dev/davinci15:/dev/davinci15  \
--device=/dev/davinci_manager:/dev/davinci_manager \
--device=/dev/hisi_hdc:/dev/hisi_hdc \
--entrypoint=bash \
quay.io/ascend/sglang:cann9.0.0-a3-v0.5.16
```

  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Atlas 800I A2">

```bash Command
docker pull quay.io/ascend/sglang:cann9.0.0-910b-v0.5.16

docker run -itd --shm-size=16g --name ${NAME} \
--privileged=true --net=host \
-v /var/queue_schedule:/var/queue_schedule \
-v /etc/ascend_install.info:/etc/ascend_install.info \
-v /usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/sbin \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/driver:/usr/local/Ascend/driver \
-v /usr/local/Ascend/firmware:/usr/local/Ascend/firmware \
--device=/dev/davinci0:/dev/davinci0  \
--device=/dev/davinci1:/dev/davinci1  \
--device=/dev/davinci2:/dev/davinci2  \
--device=/dev/davinci3:/dev/davinci3  \
--device=/dev/davinci4:/dev/davinci4  \
--device=/dev/davinci5:/dev/davinci5  \
--device=/dev/davinci6:/dev/davinci6  \
--device=/dev/davinci7:/dev/davinci7  \
--device=/dev/davinci_manager:/dev/davinci_manager \
--device=/dev/hisi_hdc:/dev/hisi_hdc \
--entrypoint=bash \
quay.io/ascend/sglang:cann9.0.0-910b-v0.5.16
```

  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Tip>
- If the model weights have already been downloaded to a shared directory, use `-v` to mount the model path into the
  container, for example: `-v /path/to/models:/models`.
- Replace `${NAME}` with your own container name or remove `--name` to use default name.
</Tip>

## Online service deployment

### Single-node online deployment

Single-node deployment completes both prefill and decode within the same node (PD mixed mode), suitable for scenarios
with limited hardware resources. This scenario is already covered in the best practice. For the complete, optimized
deployment commands and benchmark data, see
[MiniMax-M2.5 Best Practice — PD Mixed On A3](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/model-deployment/best-practices/minimax_m2_5#single-node-pd-mixed).

## Functional verification

After the service is started, you can invoke the model by sending a prompt:

```shell
# ============================================================
# Before running, update the following variables:
#   HOST: the server host address (e.g., localhost)
#   PORT: the server port number (e.g., 6689)
# ============================================================

curl http://${HOST}:${PORT}/generate \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{
        "text": "What is the capital of France?",
        "sampling_params": {
            "max_new_tokens": 64,
            "temperature": 0
        }
    }'
```

Expected result: an HTTP 200 response with the generated text containing "Paris".

Once the server prints `The server is fired up and ready to roll!` in the logs, it is ready to accept requests. For more
testing examples (Health Check, Generate, Chat Completions, and port usage guidance),
see [Testing the Service](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/getting-started/installation#testing-the-service).

## Accuracy evaluation

For accuracy evaluation methods and datasets, see [Accuracy Evaluation on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/evaluation/accuracy_evaluation).

## Performance

For performance data and benchmark commands, see [Performance Testing on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/evaluation/performance_testing).

## Best practices

### Best practice configuration reference

For complete optimal configurations with deployment scripts and benchmark commands, see the
[MiniMax-M2.5 Best Practice](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/model-deployment/best-practices/minimax_m2_5) page.

## Performance tuning

For the full list of supported features, see [Supported features](#supported-features). For detailed optimization
guidance, see [Optimization on Ascend NPU](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/optimization/parameter_tuning).

## FAQ

For common environment, installation, and general parameter issues, please refer to the [Ascend NPU FAQ](/docs/hardware-platforms/ascend-npus/faq).
